Rules of Romance
by katyedavis
Summary: Hermione's article for the daily prophet gets turned into her very own romance advice column. Now she's receiving flowers from a mysterious person who keeps writing to her.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is for QLFC and I'm Chaser #1 of the Wimbourne Wasps. This round is all about forbidden love! My prompt was about two characters with different blood statuses. So, naturally, I chose to Dramione it up.

Additional Prompts:  
#6: (word) reach  
#9: (word) practically  
#10: (dialogue) "What do you want from me?"

 **Rules of Romance**

Hermione had not anticipated the stack of letters that waited for her on her desk. She hadn't meant for the column she wrote to become an advice column in the Daily Prophet. It had started out as merely a relationship bashing message to all future couples because her relationship with Ron had gone awry.

"Do you know how many people you reach on a daily basis?" Rita questioned, popping her unwelcome head into Hermione's new office.

"I don't even want to know," Hermione chuckled.

This wasn't the job she had picked out for herself but after the war things had changed. She wasn't entirely sure it had been for the better. However, she wasn't going to argue with the slight pay raise and her own office.

"Millions, darling!" Rita clapped and pranced down the hall, humming obnoxiously.

The best part was that she did the entire column under a pen name. No one could pick her out of a crowd as being the newly famous column writer. She was Helen Rose to the wizarding world and no one would ever know any different.

Hermione had practically just sat down to open her letters when she heard a soft pecking on the window of her office window. She looked over to see a black owl holding a letter with a familiar, yet unidentifiable, seal that was locking the contents inside it. She took the letter and admired the deep green envelope that the owl dropped in her hand.

"Ow," she hissed, looking down at her hand where the owl had pecked her.

"What do you want from me?" Hermione questioned, realizing that she had not given him a treat yet.

She fished around in her pocket for a little something to give the owl while she studied the handwriting on the letter she just received. It looked painfully familiar but she couldn't figure out where she had seen it. She ignored all the other letters on her desk and hastily tried to open this one. She didn't know why she was in such a rush to find out what this letter said. She wasn't disappointed when she did.

 _Hello Helen Rose,  
It's been awhile since I've seen this particular girl but the last time I saw her, she was sad. She was sad because I had wronged her in some way. My question for you is: How do I tell her that I'm sorry?  
Sincerely,  
Damian Michaels_

Hermione thought carefully about what she should pen back to him because she didn't really know what to say. Just how bad did he wrong this woman? Hermione stared at the blank parchment in front of her next to the small letter that had captured her attention.

 _Damian Michaels,  
It's so good to hear from my readers! I've always heard that chocolates are used to say 'I love you' and that flowers are to say 'I'm sorry.' So, in my case, I would love a big bouquet of flowers. I'm sure she would love them too.  
Sincerely,  
Helen Rose_

She fastened the letter to the owl's foot before giving him another treat. She sent him on his way while she turned back to the hundreds of letters that littered her desk.

-XOX-

Hours had passed and she wasn't even a fourth of the way done with her pile of letters. The pile just seemed to grow and grow.

"Miss Granger, you've got a delivery," Gwen, her secretary, informed her.

By the time Hermione looked up, she saw a big bouquet of bright pink hydrangeas appear on the table closest to the door. She had often admired Hydrangeas and she loved the smell that flooded that room the moment they appeared.

"I wonder who…" she thought out loud, getting up from her chair.

She looked all over the flowers for a note of some kind but she couldn't seem to find it. Then she felt something hit her foot.

"There it is," she said.

When she opened it, she was completely taken back by what was said in the message.

 _I'm sorry…very sorry.  
\- DM_

Who was DM? Why was he sending her flowers? She couldn't figure out why anyone would send her flowers and then she thought back to the first letter she answered earlier that morning.

But…who was Damian Michaels?

-XOX-

Draco Malfoy sat at his desk while ignoring the growing amounts of paperwork that seemed to just pop up in front of him. He hadn't been able to get Hermione off his mind.  
It was absurd for him to be having these thoughts but the war was over. Was the war between blood statuses still going on or had it ended with everything else? He had hoped it was the later.

"Mr. Malfoy, the flowers have been sent," a small voice informed him before turning out of the room suddenly.

He wanted to send something a little vaguer but he couldn't think of anything better. The moment she started doing this column, he found it the perfect opportunity to finally get out his apologies. Granted, he owed her much more than a vase full of beautiful flowers.

It was a start.


	2. And So It Begins

**A/N:**

 **I'm adding to the one shot and making it a story. I don't know if I can technically do this because it's part of a one shot community but I loved this one shot so much that I decided I should continue it.**

 _ **Rules of Romance .02**_

Unlike the rest of the scantily clad tramps that ran around this bar, she was reserved. The trashy atmosphere clashed with her navy pencil skirt and red blazer. It was evident to everyone around her that she clearly didn't belong in a place like this. Even she knew it.

However, it didn't stop her from sitting at a pub table while she pushed around the ice in her previously watered down cocktail. She couldn't imagine why a person of business would want to meet her here but she has never denied a fan the chance to tell their story.

It had been months since Hermione Granger was granted the title of columnist at The Daily Prophet. It had been years since she had started working there and now that she was the ripe age of 26, she couldn't believe she was sitting here in a place that could very well be shut down tomorrow. Of course, that's just based on hygiene alone. Then again, she was a romance columnist and not a bar reviewer.

Regardless, she had been sitting there for nearly half an hour before she decided to give up. The moment she started packing her bags, she was stopped by the person who had written her.

"I should have known," she said, sarcastically.

"I'm glad you came," Ron answered but just loud enough so he could be heard over the music.

"In a way I knew because of that chicken scratch you call handwriting,"

Hermione took out her journal, along with her favorite quill, and opened up to a fresh page of parchment.

"I suppose you wrote to me so that you could have a story of you and Lavender in the next edition of paper?" Hermione asked, putting on her best fake smile.

They had not gotten along since the split and the moment that Ron cheated on her made everything so much clearer for her. She had become preoccupied with the ridiculousness that comes with love. Since she had been obsessed with knowing all there was to know about love, she had become blind to the real matter at hand; adultery.

She tried to be perfect for Ron only to be shut down like The Three Broomsticks. That was a sad day.

"Actually, I came to tell you that we've...split up," Ron said the last part so quietly that Hermione almost swore she didn't hear it correctly.

Of course, she had heard it the way he said it but she wished she had missed it. The undeniable pain in his eyes as he talked about it did nothing to Hermione. In fact, she didn't care.

"What are you wanting me to do about it?" Hermione questioned, uninterested.

"Oh, come on, are you not the new columnist that gives romance advice?" Ron joked.

"What can I say? Lavender is a slut and you are an idiot," Hermione mocked and slammed her journal shut.

"Come on, Hermione. You're making this really hard to ask," Ron groaned.

Hermione just threw her things in the bottom of her bag and stood up straight.

"I can only assume that Harry told you I was writing for the Daily Prophet," Hermione said simply.

"I was wondering who this bitter female, Helen Rose, was and what she had against the bloke she lashed out at. However, when Harry told me I understood it…Hermione, I'm s-"

"Don't start! Have a nice life, Ronald,"

"But I was hoping that…we might could give it another go?" Ron asked, hopeful.

"You've got to be joking," Hermione stated.

She could see that he was definitely not joking and that he was still waiting for a response. Hermione just started laughing and before long it turned into an uproar that even the music couldn't drown out.

"Oh boy, do you not know me at all?" Hermione wondered out loud, "I'm not some trollop that you can dump and pick up whenever you feel like it. I'm not that kind of girl. You should know that more than anyone," she huffed, turning towards the exit and leaving him in his own thoughts.

She just wished she'd had her camera.

 **-XOX-**

"Hermione, delivery for you!" Claudia, her secretary, had sent an intercom bubble to Hermione's office.

Hermione cleaned off a spot on her desk that she had filled with paperwork. She had tried to keep busy since her lunch meeting with Ron and she was far too frustrated to concentrate. That is, until another large bag of letters found their way onto her desk along with less than a dozen red roses. A sudden sense of dread filled her stomach.

She hoped that Ron wasn't going to resort to sending flowers but the note hanging off the flowers told her that he had. She handed them back to Claudia and told her that she should have flowers for her own desk. Besides, Hermione was still in love with the vibrantly pink Hydrangeas sitting in the corner of the room. The smell of them couldn't be masked and they added such a wonderful light to her office.

Hermione looked down at her schedule and panicked.

"Claudia, I have a meeting in 3 minutes?!" Hermione shouted, looking for a fresh stack of parchment.

"Yes. It seems that they are adding someone to the staff. It's more of just a welcome, not a meeting," she answered.

Hermione ran down the hallway to the meeting room where everyone was already seated. She made several memos to herself the moment she sat down: 1. Keep fresh parchment on hand and 2. Never wear heels to work.

"Is everyone here?" Mr. Cuffe questioned the room.

"I don't see Doge anywhere," Rita remarked, kissing ass as she usually did.

"Then he's fired!" Cuffe announced.

Rita looked particularly proud of herself as she peered around the table. She often took the time to make herself seem more dominant over the other journalists. She liked to prove that she still had power but really she was just creating more enemies for herself.

"Now, on with the rest of our business. I have a quick announcement about someone that I've just hired to take a spot within this wonderful team of writers,"

Hermione held the urge to roll her eyes. Cuffe never meant anything he said so if he said they were good writer, he was lying. He must really be trying to impress whoever is getting added to the Prophet.

"Miss Granger, you do such a marvelous job on the column with your romance advice. Helen Rose has sold a great deal of copies since the day we announced that You-Know-Who was gone forever. Hell, we've sold more prophets since the day Rita was introduced,"

Rita scowled at Hermione from across the table but Hermione didn't really care that much. Rita had been gunning for her since the day she arrived in the employment office.

"However, I'm wondering how many more copies we would sell if you had a counterpart. You know, someone who believes the opposite of what you believe,"

"I'm sorry?" Hermione questioned, pretending she hadn't heard that.

"Miss Granger, please meet your new partner, Draco Malfoy,"

Hermione didn't even turn around. She thought that maybe if she didn't see him that it wouldn't be true. The unfortunate part is that no matter how hard she tried to ignore it, it was true.

"Mr. Cuffe, it is a pleasure to join this group of talented writers," Draco thanked from the doorway.

Hermione gritted her teeth as her quill shook in her hands. There was no way this could be happening. NO WAY!

"Well, meeting adjourned. We will have a brainstorm meeting tomorrow at nine sharp. Off you go!"

Hermione hurried out of the meeting room as she purposefully slammed her shoulder into Draco Malfoy.

She had to have at least some satisfaction out of today.

 **-XOX-**


	3. Hydrangeas vs Lilies

The Rules of Romance .02  
 _Inhale. Exhale._

 _ **A/N: These aren't going to be long chapters so I apologize in advance. I invite you to check out Bar Elate (A Dramione Story) and the prequel Her Dark Enchantment because those are my main ones right now. This one keeps coming to me so I'm just writing**_ __ _ **Don't forget to review if you like it =)**_

 _Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale._

Hermione was trying everything in her power to ignore the irritation that was running rampid through her veins. She tried breathing, she tried breaking things and then putting them back together again, and she even debated setting the beautiful hydrangeas she had received on fire. She couldn't bring herself to do it. Nothing was going to get rid of this burning loathing that settled in her chest.

Only one person could fully derail her day and it just happened to be the thing she hated most; Draco Malfoy.

If he could but see her right now as she tried to pull herself together he would laugh. He would laugh hard, she was sure of it. That thought alone destroyed her meditative breathing.

How could her boss think this was a good idea? Why in the world would she need a counterpart in her very own column? Malfoy knew nothing of love! He knew how to pick up girls, use them for all their worth and then throw them away like a broken wand.

A knock sounded at her office door and she took a deep breath in case it was her boss. She wouldn't mind if it was Claudia, just as long as it wasn't...

"Merlin, this office is tiny," Draco smirked, looking above Hermione's head and around the office.

Hermione made a move to slam the door in his face but he caught it just in time, still not looking her in the eye.

"Did Helen Rose get the bigger office? You know, since she's sold the most prophets," he joked

"I need you to leave,"

"Oh my, that's a lot of letters. I can almost guarantee that those are not from admirers," he said, pointing to the pile of unopened letters behind her desk.

"I have a lot of work to do. I would appreciate it greatly if you got out of my office and returned to your cubicle on the second floor," Hermione seethed, trying her best to hide it.

She still had not fully calmed down.

"Oh, but Granger this is OUR office," he said, smirking again and this time Hermione had to hold back physical urges so as not to slap him.

"Excuse me?" She questioned, hoping she had not heard him right.

"OUR office, Granger. Cuffe wanted you and I to share this cupboard you call an office," Draco said absently, running a finger over the table where the hydrangeas sat.

He flicked the dust onto the floor and studied the room carefully. He was looking for somewhere to put his desk and Hermione was more than livid at this point. Her wide eyes followed him around the room as he mentally placed his belongings in the designated corners he was claiming.

"Did he mention why he didn't give you your own office?" Hermione questioned, formulating a complaint to her boss in her head.

"Wouldn't my desk look absolutely stunning in this-" Hermione cut him off.

"Is he in his office?" Hermione questioned, but Draco just went about moving stuff over so he could put his things there.

Hermione slammed her office door shut and Draco just smiled to himself. He noticed the pink hydrangeas that sat in the vase were gorgeous but he had imagined them to be much bigger in person.

-XOX-

"Mr. Cuffe, I understand why you want to add to the column but I don't understand why he doesn't have his own office," Hermione said, irritation becoming more visible by the second.

"Miss Granger, it's only temporary. The fourth floor is being renovated for repairs. Once those are done you will both have bigger, and separate, offices," He said, avoiding eye contact as he read an issue of the prophet from a year prior.

"Well, can't he have an empty cubicle on the second floor with all the new employees?" Hermione stretched for some other option.

"I would have, Miss Granger, but I'm afraid they are all full. Look, it's only for four months. Until then you either deal with it or leave,"

Hermione couldn't decide which was worse: the fact that she could lose the one job she loves because of Malfoy or the fact that she was thinking about quitting because of Malfoy. Either way, _MALFOY_ was the problem. She wasn't going to allow him to get the best of her. He was the new writer here, not her.

Hermione calmly left her bosses office and walked slowly down the hall. Knowing that Draco was going to be in her office for at least four months absolutely killed her.

When Hermione finally got back to her office she noticed that Draco wasn't in it but his stuff was. Everything was placed where he wanted it. Their desks were facing each other, the hydrangeas sat in her corner and a new bouquet of lilies sat in his corner. She could tell that those flowers to him were from the office as a welcome gift. His parchment was set nicely and now the room smelled of peppermint rather than the fresh flowers on her side. The one thing she noticed to be absent from his decor were pictures. Hermione had photos and frames all over her desk and her walls but his was left completely bare.

She walked to the front to tell Claudia that she would be leaving early and to put any more letters on her desk for the morning. However, once she got there she noticed that Claudia was swooning over one side of her desk while Draco talked to her. Well, they were flirting. Hermione rolled her eyes and cleared her throat. Claudia straightened up immediately but Draco just remained where he was.

"I'm leaving," Hermione announced.

"Oh, alright. Should I put the letters on your desk?" Hermione nodded and completely ignored Draco as she turned to go back to her office in order to pack up her things.

When she was putting her notes back in her briefcase she noticed a packet of at least four pages sitting on her desk. She had never seen them before.

"That's the article I wrote on how love is the worst possible feeling in the century," Draco said, coming in with more parchment to store in his desk.

"You only have four pages? Well, aren't we ambitious," Hermione stated sarcastically, shoving the article in the very bottom of her briefcase.

"It got me the job and half of your office so I should say that it was a hit," Draco smirked.

 _That damn smirk._

"Meeting is at nine sharp. If you aren't on time then he'll fire you. So, show up at 9:01," Hermione said, pushing past him and out of her office.

She always enjoyed a challenge but this was one thing she didn't know if she could handle.


	4. Rules of Romance

Hermione smiled to herself the closer it got to nine that morning and Draco still hadn't shown up. Of course, once he walked through the door at exactly nine her smile turned into a scowl and her morning tea looked positively dreadful now.

Everyone was typically on time for these meetings because of the strict atmosphere and the pressure to always have a good idea. The Daily Prophet was considered of importance now that everyone who wrote for them was of class and superiority.

Mr. Cuffe walked into the room and all of the abstract talking ceased. He took a long sip of his tea and sorted through papers.

"So, I did a bit of brainstorming myself last night but I would like to hear what everyone has on their mind for this week. Of course, Rita you have any news that manages to come up unexpectedly for your section. Leigh, what do you have?" Cuffe started.

He liked to get down to business. He didn't like to stay overtime on brainstorm day. As Cuffe went around the oval table to different writers, he eventually fell on Hermione who was laced with tons of ideas.

"I've been working on this idea for about a month now but I figured that, instead of picking out couples, why not go over proper dating etiquette? You know, what should actually happen on a first date? What's a good idea for a second date? How do you break up efficiently? It's kind of like the rules of romance," Hermione explained.

A lot of nods and astonished smiles shown around the table but a heavy sigh came from Draco Malfoy who was sitting next to her. Hermione rolled her eyes because she knew he was going to protest. He always managed to tear down her good ideas.

"Mr. Malfoy, is there something you would like to share?" Hermione asked quite snippily.

"I'm so glad you asked, Granger. Rules of romance? Please! What a ploy to get what you want in a date. The rules never stand when it comes to actual relationships," he argued.

"Oh no? Where's your proof?" Hermione had given him what he wanted, her full attention.

"And I suppose you have more experience than I do?" He snipped back.

"This is a perfect idea, Miss Granger," Mr. Cuffe remarked, interrupting the witty banter between the two.

"Thank you, sir," Hermione said, nodding in his direction but still fuming over the blonde ferret sitting next to her.

"Yes, this will be a wonderful piece for the both of you," Cuffe remarked.

Hermione and Draco both stared at the man in shock. That wasn't anything that Hermione had in mind. She had intended to do the entire piece alone.

"W-What?" Hermione stuttered.

"Well, this is why I suggested you have a counterpart in your writing. You both see it in such different lights and so do the readers," he answered.

"What do you propose we do, sir?" Draco questioned.

"Like Miss Granger said, the rules of romance. Perform them! Test out your theories. Try to prove the other one completely wrong," He suggested.

"So, you're saying we need to test them out…on each other?" Hermione questioned, panic starting to settle in her stomach.

"Precisely! Oh, the prophet is going to get so many more readers this year!" He said, overly excited.

Before anymore protests could be made from either of them, the meeting was called to an end and they walked quietly back to their office. Hermione was fuming but she wasn't angry at Draco, she was angry at her boss. That wasn't anything like what she had suggested! She wanted to be the one to write the piece and she wanted to do it alone.

A piece of paper was hanging off of their door and what they read just irritated them more.

 _Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy,_

 _Your first assignment is due by this Friday on the first rule of romance. After reading Hermione's notes, it seems you have several that you could cover. I suggest the first one be about a first date. Good luck you two!_

 _Mr. Cuffe_

"Seems we've gotten ourselves in a fine mess," Hermione said, ripping the paper off the door.

When she pushed the door open she ran right into Draco's desk which just irritated her more. She kicked the desk and let out growl.

"Why don't we just use an enlargement spell on the office?" Draco asked curiously.

"I tried that the moment I moved into this office but it just wouldn't do it. I'm not sure if there's a spell keeping it from happening or something else," Hermione informed, looking around the room for something to break.

She took a deep breath and reminded herself that she wasn't alone in the office. She couldn't just break things and put it back together again like she usually did when she got angry. In fact, Hermione had no idea why she felt like she had to break things in order to keep her calm nowadays. She used to not be like that but the painful mark on her arm that she tried diligently to hide all the time reminded her why she was angry. No spell could remove it, she had tried, but there were spells to mask it. Now she had to write her ideas with the idiot of the family who caused it and she didn't know how she was going to do it.

She might kill him.

"Look, I'm not any more excited than you are about the situation but he's right about one thing. I was brought in to oppose your ideas and I do oppose them. I oppose the fact that there are even rules to romance but here we are…in a mess that we can't get out of," He said, closing the door behind him.

Hermione sighed heavily and turned to face him. His blue eyes weren't as critical as she was used to seeing them but they still bothered her. She couldn't understand why.

"I have every reason to quit my job right now," She said, looking over at the vase of flowers for a moment to soothe her thoughts.

"But do you really want to? This is a job you wanted and it's not one that was expected of you. You can't tell me that all those moments you spent with your head in a book that you weren't wishing you had been the one to write it," Draco said, surprising Hermione.

"That's beside the point," She argued.

"Look, it's just a collection of pieces for four months. No one says that we have to stop detesting each other but they are asking that we put our differences aside for the paper. I can put them aside, can you?" He asked.

"That's really funny coming from you," Hermione smirked.

"Let's just say that I've grown a lot in the past few years,"

"Well, the first piece is supposed to be on first date etiquette," Hermione started.

"Interesting," Draco commented, sitting down at his desk.

"I'm going first," Hermione claimed.

"Bring it on," He countered.

 _This should be interesting._


End file.
